Project U
by Nate Grey
Summary: An alternate ending to the manga, set after chapter 693. With Sasuke victorious, and Konoha in ruins, the survivors rebuild in the Land of Waves. Sometimes, a hero must emerge on their own. Other times, you have to bring them back from the dead.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: This is my own end to Naruto. Because since Kaguya's defeat, things went steadily downhill, and that hill's name is Sasuke. So, for this story, I'm going to firmly pretend that the manga stopped after chapter 693, shortly after Sakura was placed under Sasuke's genjutsu. And also that the genjutsu lasted much longer than ten minutes. Because if you're jerk enough to try and kill two girls who love you, you're certainly jerk enough to trap one in a dream state for a while. Which, I must emphasize, would still be kinder than giving her a kid of questionable parentage, but I will not be digging into that can of worms this time around. And if that left a bad taste in your mouth rather than amused you, probably you should stop reading here.

* * *

**Project U**

**A Totally Unofficial Naruto Ending by**

**Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)**

* * *

Every day, he set aside time to walk through his village, see his people, and bask in his glory.

Uchiha Sasuke. Rokudaime Hokage.

Last Hokage.

How he loved the sound of that.

Reactions among his people were mixed. Some loved him. Some feared him. All respected him. Not that it mattered how they felt in the end. None could hope to challenge him.

He had become the One True Enemy of the Shinobi World, just as he'd promised Naruto he would. All the hatred was piled upon him, and he wore it like a badge of honor. Let them hate him, and no one else.

There were battles. They came to him and declared war, and he crushed them with barely a thought. Sometimes he stood among the piles of the dead, waiting for more meaningless sacrifices. They would never stop coming, and he would always be ready for them.

They didn't hate Konoha. They didn't even hate the title of Hokage. It was only him that they hated, and that was as it should be.

* * *

When Uchiha Sasuke took Konoha, it could have been the end. It wasn't.

The survivors fled, and were welcomed with open arms by the people of the Land of Waves. They still remembered the boy who had saved them, and were proud to provide a home for his grave. And in just over three years, the Village Hidden in the Waves was up and running. There was just one condition that both the citizens and the Shodai Namikage had insisted upon.

Uzumaki Naruto was posthumously declared the Rokudaime Hokage. It was not a difficult task: Sasuke had been rather thorough in wiping out the former generation of Konoha that would have opposed it, and with the original Waves citizens adding their support, it was a done deal.

* * *

"How did it go, Kakashi-sensei?"

The man froze, nostalgia washing over him. "It's been a long time since anyone called me that."

The young man grinned at him. "Yeah, well, it feels weird to call you anything else. So?"

Kakashi nodded and sighed. "He's still there, and still insane, from what I saw."

"Did he notice you?"

"Does he ever?"

"So we have nothing to worry about."

Kakashi shook his head. "I would never say that, Shodai-sama. He's the last Uchiha for a reason, and the only one keeping him restrained right now is himself. If that ever changes-"

"It won't. He made a promise to Naruto nii-san, and he'd damn well better keep it!"

"I hope that as well, you know. But Sasuke has been in the habit of breaking bonds for a long time now. I'd like to think he'll honor this one longer than any other, but there's no way to be sure with him."

"I wish he'd die," the young man whispered.

"He is serving an important purpose," Kakashi reminded him gently. "With him alive, no one attacks anyone else. No one has set their eyes on our small nation. If Sasuke were to die, someone would need to replace him. And I doubt anyone is strong enough."

"I'd rather have a hero who can't die, personally."

"He wouldn't be a hero, unless there was a villain to define him as such. We've been over this several times. Now, is there anything else? I've got some downtime saved up, and I intend to use it."

"Going to do some reading?" the young man asked with a lecherous grin.

Kakashi stared at him blankly. "Actually, I thought I would check on Sakura."

The grin faded fast. "There's been no change. Like you said, there's no one strong enough. She'll be trapped in his cursed genjutsu forever. And with any luck, so will he."

"One can hope, Shodai-sama," Kakashi said as he turned to leave the office. "That's all we have sometimes."

Frowning, Sarutobi Konohamaru leaned back in his chair, glaring at Kakashi's back. No matter what the man said, they needed a hero, one that would at least have a chance against Sasuke. And it was time to check up on his pet project and find out if it had bore any fruit.

"Time to go to work," Konohamaru sighed.

* * *

Just as Konohamaru had said, there was no change in Sakura's condition. No one had any idea exactly what she was experiencing in the genjutsu, but considering that Sasuke easily could have made her mind destroy itself, apparently he'd shown her some mercy.

Just not enough to ever actually let her out of the genjutsu.

Kakashi alone understood that this was not necessarily an act of cruelty. For so long, Sakura had believed in a dream: that Sasuke would return to them, and return her love. Kakashi had known it would never happen, the moment Sasuke left them. But just as Naruto had been unable to let go of his promise to bring Sasuke home, Sakura had been unable to let go of Sasuke, no matter how deep into darkness he ran. Kakashi had feared that Sakura's pursuit would result in her dying at Sasuke's hands, and in a sense, she had. It was starting to look as if only another Rinnegan wielder would be able to free Sakura.

It wasn't impossible, but it was quite a longshot. Sasuke attacked anyone who approached him now, and the only Uzumaki they had left was Karin, who was far too valuable to risk.

This wasn't what Naruto had wanted for them, Kakashi knew. It wasn't what he'd died for. He had allowed Sasuke to kill him, in the hopes that it would open his friend's eyes. All it had really done was restrain Sasuke's madness the slightest bit: Sasuke still considered the entire world his enemy, but in his mind, the world did not extend past the borders of the ruins of Konoha. Kakashi wasn't sure if something in Naruto's blood had done it, or if Sasuke had placed himself under genjutsu. All that mattered was that he was contained.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Kakashi made his way to the shoreline. He no longer had access to the Memorial Stone, but the semi-regular walks made him feel closer to Rin and Obito.

Along the way, he caught sight of an unmarked warship slicing through the fog. It seemed to only be passing by, but Kakashi's body tensed all the same. If the time had come, he would at least take them all down with him.

The various shinobi on board spotted him, and though neither he nor they could spot village alliances at that distance, they recognized him all the same. As one, they all saluted him.

Stunned, Kakashi hesitated before returning the salute, and held it until the warship vanished back into the fog. Given their speed and direction, Kakashi figured there was only one place they could be headed: Konoha. More challengers for Sasuke, then. More pointless sacrifices. More ghosts for a ghost town.

* * *

Karin jerked awake at the sound of a nearby voice, and blinked slowly in the dim light. It took her a long moment before she became aware of the pain again. It never stopped, exactly, but because of that, she had more or less gotten used to it, and often forgot it entirely.

The voice stopped abruptly, and then said, "Ah, you're awake, Karin. Let me get your glasses."

"No need," Karin murmured, focusing on the man-shaped blur approaching her. Sending a bit of chakra to her eyes, the flaws in her vision faded at once, and she was able to make out Konohamaru staring up at her in wonder.

"Your eyes," he whispered. "You fixed them?"

"It doesn't last, so I have to do it each time I wake up, but yeah," Karin sighed. "Are they responding yet?"

"I think she winked at me. Or twitched at me. One of those. It was while I was telling her about our new ramen stand. I think she's excited. Or just hungry."

"Figures," Karin chuckled softly. "So, wanna get started?"

Konohamaru paused. "If you're feeling up to it," he said.

"Always am. Hang on." Karin took a deep breath, released it, and then began to work. She bit down hard on her tongue, and through the new pain, she could feel her chakra pouring out of her body, even as the chakra almost instantly came back to her. If she focused, she could actually follow the chakra's path: along the damp cave walls, and into the jumble of humanoid masses on either side of her. The bodies began to glow, ever so faintly, and then the chakra came rushing back to Karin, though at a slightly slower rate, and with less potency.

The process went on for about ten minutes, and then Karin sagged against the cave wall, completely spent. Konohamaru brought her water to drink, which she gulped down and nearly choked on. He gently wiped her mouth, and it was a sign of how often he'd done so that there was no awkwardness in the gesture.

It still amazed her, how resourceful shinobi could be, or rather, how little reverence they had for their dead. She had no idea who had preserved the genetic material of Kushina and her son, not that it truly mattered. It had all ended up in Konohamaru's hands, and he had brought it to her. She remembered that Kakashi had been the one who described the process Uchiha Madara had used to reproduce Zetsu clones. The memories had been stored in Obito's eye, and while Kakashi did not mind sharing them, he could not bring himself to be a part of the project. Tsunade had personally bonded Karin to the cave wall, and created the nutrient-rich soup that the clones were sprayed down with every day. She insisted that it was a longshot, but maintained that if any cells other than her grandfather's could possibly produce viable clones, they would have to belong to Kushina and Naruto, for their sheer stubbornness if no other reason.

Within six months, the clones had become featureless but unmistakably human-shaped masses. They did not respond consistently to outside stimuli, but extremely limited movement had been observed from time to time. Karin was usually too exhausted to talk to them, so Konohamaru visited each day, hoping to bore them into annoyance with the details of his day. The only thing he managed with consistency was to put Karin to sleep.

* * *

Hanabi did not like being a teacher. Hated it, actually. But, she was used to hating everyone around her and ordering people around, and the skills, if they could be called that, just happened to transfer well.

It helped that she could be rather scary when she wanted, which was most of the time.

Konohamaru had talked her into it. He had said that he would stop asking her out every single day if she would do it. And Hanabi really wanted him to stop. He had kept his word, too. He now sent his daily lunch invitations entirely through other people, and she continued to turn them all down. With a smile, but of course, he wasn't there to see that, and anyone who blabbed would suffer her wrath, which was considerable.

Hanabi was free to teach her class whatever she wanted. She could have droned on and on about the superiority of her clan, for example. She didn't. She could have told them all what a jerk their leader was. She didn't. She could have even had them use a drawing of Sasuke for target practice. That, she did, frequently and with abundant joy. The only thing Hanabi was required to teach her class, according to Konohamaru, was the one thing she should have refused to, had she been an upstanding member of her own clan.

But, they were kids, and Hanabi had recently come to think of her clan as consisting only of people who obviously cared about her. And judging by that standard, the majority of her clan would currently consist of people not related to her by blood, except Hinata. She was always the exception. Bit annoying, really, but in a way that Hanabi could not actually blame her for. Which was even more annoying, but also in a way that Hinata couldn't be blamed for. About the only thing Hinata could be blamed for was giving Hanabi far too many hugs and kisses, and while Hanabi would never admit to liking those, she would admit to preferring that no one but Hinata give them to her. Konohamaru was far too eager to sign up for the honor as it was, and Hanabi wouldn't have put it past Moegi, either. That girl was so weird sometimes...

So, every day, even when it rained, Hanabi took her class outside for at least an hour. There, she taught them how to channel chakra into and through their hands. The ones with sufficient chakra control then learned to channel chakra through their fingers and fingertips. And they would all send their chakra into the ground. Hanabi gave various reasons for this: anything from thanking Mother Earth to helping the grass grow. It didn't really matter, kids were easy to convince, especially when she said things in her scary voice. She wasn't sure what that was, exactly, as most kids claimed all her voices were scary.

All that really mattered was that all that chakra was sent into the ground. Hanabi did not know exactly why it was important. Konohamaru had been vague on the details, and she had not pressed him. He had really only said that it was about ensuring the safety of the village for the next generation. Hanabi had peeked, once, with her Byakugan. She saw enough to convince her not to look again.

* * *

Hinata was given very strict orders. No one was to pass her without a Kage's permission.

So when Kushina tried to leave the cave, Hinata stood in the way.

"Who are you, then?" Kushina asked, sounding amused, but only just so.

Hinata swallowed hard and answered. "I am Hyūga Hinata, and I apologize, Kushina-sama, but I am under orders to let no one pass. Not without the permission of a Kage, at least."

Kushina turned back to discuss this with her companions. One, Hinata noted with growing excitement, looked exactly like Naruto, save for the curious addition of Karin draped limply over his back. After a moment, Kushina faced Hinata again. "Who gave you this order, Hinata-chan?"

"The Shodai Namikage."

"Ah. Well then, by order of the Shodai Uzukage, let us pass."

Hinata blinked. "Ano... who is the Shodai Uzukage, exactly?"

"That would be me."

"Oh." Hinata bent down and came up with a large box. "In that case, I'm to give you these, Uzukage-sama."

Kushina grinned as she peered into the box to find her new Kage robes. "No need to be so formal, Hinata-chan," she said, patting Hinata on the shoulder. "Hey, how would you like to get married? My Naru-chan needs a well-mannered wife, and Karin-chan could use a nice sister."

Hinata couldn't help it, she blushed. "I-I would be honored, Kushina-sama, but-"

"Come on, you have to be more decisive if you're going to be an Uzumaki, Hinata-chan. Like this." Kushina wrapped an arm firmly around Hinata. "You're going to be my new daughter, and that's all there is to it. Now, once I get dressed, I'll need you to guide me to this Namikage person. We need to have words."

* * *

Konohamaru was eating lunch when Hinata tracked him down. This was no real surprise, as he made it a point to eat with his subordinates, so he ate at least six small meals throughout each day so that no one felt excluded. It was a curious but effective tactic: very few people felt the Namikage was unapproachable, or unable to sympathize with the struggles of the common shinobi. Konohamaru had never once put on his Kage robes, in fact: the only sign he was anything other than a standard shinobi was the Kage hat he wore everywhere, and even that stayed firmly tied to his back rather than his head.

Perhaps it would have been better to meet the new Uzukage in private, rather than in a public cafeteria, but Hinata had no real choice. Konohamaru had ordered her to bring Kushina straight to him the moment she was dressed, and with the smell of ramen in their noses, Kushina and Naruto had both insisted on food first. The moment they entered the cafeteria, Hinata found herself standing alone, with only two recently substituted bowls for company. Kushina and Naruto had made it to the front of the line already, with the excuse that Kage ate first, and injured VIPs after them.

Hinata sighed and made her way over to Konohamaru, who was chuckling as he finished his ramen. "My apologies, Kono-kun, but your most honored guests were of another mind."

Konohamaru laughed. "It's okay, Hinata. Thanks for bringing them here." He paused and added, "Is Karin okay like that?"

"She protested when I tried to remove her, and declined any attempt to give her medical attention. Kushina-sama seems to think she only needs fattening up, and I imagine they are all very hungry, so..."

They were interrupted by another pair of substitutions: the two ninja that had been seated across from Konohamaru were instantly replaced by Kushina, Naruto, and Karin, who was still draped across Naruto's back. Kushina slid one of the two huge bowls of ramen she was carrying to Naruto, though it seemed to pain her to part with it.

"So you're this Namikage I keep hearing about?" Kushina asked, staring at him curiously. "You're kinda short for a Kage, aren't you? What makes you think you're qualified?"

"Oi, kaa-chan!" Naruto protested. "The Tsuchikage's even tinier! And like I told you before, Konohamaru's my apprentice!"

"Don't interrupt Uzukage-sama, baka!" Karin snapped, shoving the bowl of ramen to his mouth.

Naruto glared at her, but began to eat because he was indeed hungry. He didn't forget to occasionally pass some back to her, which Karin ate reluctantly. She did not like being fed like a child, but she didn't actually have the strength to eat a bowl by herself yet. As for germs, well, she had practically just given birth to Naruto, so anything he could give her, she likely already had.

Konohamaru cleared his throat. "Naruto nii-san is right on both counts. I admit I don't know a thousand jutsu yet, but I was picked over several who did. I like to think that counts for something. And only one of them could do this, which means even more." Konohamaru raised his hand and formed a medium-sized Rasengan with no visible effort.

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "How did you-?!"

Naruto coughed loudly and raised his hand.

Kushina sighed. "Naru-chan, you shouldn't go around handing out family secrets."

Naruto pouted at her. "Konohamaru is family," he insisted. "He's my adopted little brother." When Kushina didn't seem impressed, he added, "He's also the old man's grandson."

Konohamaru frowned, but Kushina finally seemed satisfied. "We could do far worse than the Sandaime's grandson," she reasoned. "And any Kage that eats ramen with his people can't be too bad. Fine, he's an honorary Uzumaki from this day forward. We'll get him a badge or something later."

"Do I get a choice?" Konohamaru asked.

"Nope," Kushina replied promptly. "Enough talk, my ramen's getting cold."

"Is this what you were hoping for, Kono-kun?" Hinata whispered to him.

Konohamaru shrugged. "Could be worse. She could have married me off to Karin."

Hinata laughed weakly. "Later, remind me to tell you about some of the decrees she made on the way over here..."

* * *

"You could have disagreed, you know," Konohamaru muttered an hour later.

"I couldn't, either," Karin muttered back, a permanent blush visible in her cheeks as she shifted into a more comfortable position on his bed. "You weren't there. She was being openly hostile about the idea of a Namikage, and Naruto-kun and I were trying to talk her down. Vouching for you wasn't enough, so I told her you were the kind of man I would't mind marrying, if I didn't have a choice. It was the only thing I could think of!"

"And so she took your choice away. Brilliant, Karin. Did you also suggest giving her grandkids?"

"No, but she expects them anyhow. It's implied when you marry an Uzumaki woman, apparently."

Konohamaru glared at her. "This is all wrong, you know. I wanted to do this properly. There was supposed to be romance and a big, impressive gesture that you'd never forget. Not your clan head ordering you to marry me. Who wants to tell their kids that story?"

Karin smirked at him. "Kushina-sama will still be around. After meeting her, trust me, I'm sure they'll understand."

"So we're actually going through with this?"

"We sort of have to. It was your bright idea to have an alliance of three Kage, once Kushina-sama and Naruto-kun recovered. You can't just ignore their decrees, or it'll look bad. And keep in mind, this is how pushy Kushina-sama is when she's happy. Do you really want her mad at you?"

"I thought having three Kage in one village would be cool. And I thought Naruto nii-san would back me up."

"Don't expect that too often, she is his mother. Mine, too, I guess. But she didn't actually give birth to me, or die to save me, so she can't put those particular guilt trips on me."

"...do you even want to marry me, Karin?"

"What makes you think I don't?"

"Every drop of drool I've seen you spill any time someone even mentions Sasuke?"

Karin frowned at him. "You think I'm still like that?"

"Obviously not. But it's pretty hard to forget, considering you were still like that even after he tried to kill you. I never wanted you dead, and I got your consent before asking you to do anything that threatened your life. Because even though I was willing to sacrifice you, your life was still precious to me. And I don't understand how you could love someone like him, and then love someone like me. It makes no sense and it's hard for me to accept."

"I think... I loved Sasuke because he saved me, once, a long time ago. I never forgot that. And maybe I used it justify forgiving every rotten thing he did to me afterwards. I shouldn't have. You didn't save me, but you gave me a chance to be a savior. I had saved people before, but this was the first time I had a chance to save a village. I wanted my existence to mean something, and I was prepared to die for it. I wasn't prepared to live afterwards. But if I can live, I'd like to do it with a man who considers my life precious." Karin paused and glared at him. "And what about you, huh? I heard as recently as a week ago that you're still asking Hanabi out every day!"

Konohamaru laughed. "Oh, that's nothing to worry about. I have a secret that I can finally let you in on: I've been asking Hanabi out on someone else's behalf. If she ever said yes to my offers for a date, we were sort of going to ambush her with the truth."

"That's a horrible plan."

"Well, it wasn't my plan. I owe this person several favors, so I had to go along with it. Anyway, I think they'd be good for Hanabi. Keep her in line and all that."

"Who could possibly keep Hanabi in line?"

* * *

The ambush was perfectly executed, which Hanabi had to appreciate. One moment, she had been moving a stack of textbooks in the academy storeroom, and in the next, she was pressed against the wall and being thoroughly kissed. As kisses went, it was a rather good one. There was just one small problem: even if Hanabi had her eyes closed at the time, she would have still been able to see her attacker, and so that wouldn't have changed their identity one bit.

So after several long seconds, Hanabi finally shoved her attacker away. "What the hell, Moegi?!" she demanded, hoping she had put enough outrage in her tone to be convincing.

For her part, Moegi smirked. "If you were really mad, you'd be attacking me right now, Hanabi-chan."

"Maybe I'm giving you a chance to explain before I kill you!"

"Maybe you're too busy enjoying the memory of that kiss to do much of anything," Moegi countered, grinning at her. "You liked it, right?"

"S-Shut up!" Hanabi stammered, red in the face.

"You don't have to be embarrassed. I don't mind being your secret. I kept my feelings a secret this long, didn't I?"

"Wait! I thought you liked Konohamaru! And he likes me!"

"Uh, no. He got over you ages ago, and I grew out of my crush on him even sooner. All those little love notes were actually from me. He was just my middleman."

Hanabi glared at Moegi. "So you were too cowardly to just come to me yourself?"

Moegi chuckled. "I assumed you would not have been at all receptive to a girl professing her love for you. To the point where you might have been incredibly insensitive and loud about saying no."

"I wouldn't have done that!"

"No?"

"I wouldn't have done that to you," Hanabi clarified.

"Really? Why not?"

"Because... you're my friend," Hanabi admitted slowly. "You're one of the few friends I have. You're weird and annoying at times, but I wouldn't have hurt you like that."

Moegi grinned. "I love you, too, Hanabi-chan."

"T-That's not what I said!"

"It's what you might as well have said. You would have been concerned about hurting my feelings. You really can be a sweetie when you want to."

Hanabi blushed. "Whatever! I haven't agreed to anything!"

"You haven't exactly refused, either," Moegi noted, leering at her. "You're usually so vocal when you don't like something."

"I'm just being considerate of your feelings again!" Hanabi claimed.

"Why don't you consider this feeling?" Moegi murmured as she leaned in and began to place swift, sweet kisses along Hanabi's jaw.

"N-No!" Hanabi whimpered, closing her eyes and trembling as Moegi neared her mouth.

"Careful," Moegi warned softly. "You're sounding more and more like your sister."

"I'm not!" Hanabi denied, and then Moegi's lips covered hers, and she instantly forgot what they were arguing about.

* * *

"So there's no other hope of recovery?" Kushina asked softly.

"If there is, I don't know about it," Tsunade admitted. "But I'm not about to let Sasuke anywhere near her again, so I hope there is a way I don't know about."

"But if he can release her-" Naruto began.

"You may be willing to take chances with your teammate's life, but I'm a bit more protective of my apprentices," Tsunade said sharply, glaring at him. "I don't care if you are Hokage now, I'll beat you into the ground before I let Sasuke touch her. He's had too many chances as it is, including one that allowed him to kill you, gaki. If you insist on trusting him, I'll just kill you now and save him the effort."

Naruto bit his lip and lowered his head.

Kushina sighed and squeezed his shoulder. "I have to side with Tsunade, Naru-chan. Nothing I've heard about Sasuke suggests that I should trust him, with your life or your friend's. Which is a real shame, as his mother was such a good person. Perhaps once Karin is fully recovered, we can try some less conventional methods. But for now, we leave Sakura as she is. I doubt she'd complain about who we're entrusting her to."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed reluctantly. He gently took Sakura's hand and held it.

"You can talk to her," Tsunade added after a moment. "There's no evidence that she can hear us, but there's none that she can't, either. It might help, if only a little."

Naruto knelt down and laid his head against Sakura's arm. "Hey, Sakura-chan. I want you to meet someone really special to me."

Tsunade stepped back as Naruto introduced his mother to Sakura. She still had mixed feelings on just how much of the original Naruto and Kushina had been preserved in the clones, but they certainly seemed authentic enough, right down to all the flaws she remembered in both. Naruto still believed in Sasuke to a fault, and Kushina was just as hot-tempered, though being reunited with Naruto seemed to have calmed her down, if only slightly.

Imperfect as they were, the village needed them. At least, it needed Naruto, and having Kushina around would keep him happy. So even if Sakura was never freed, the village would live on.

* * *

Next Chapter: Dreaming

So what is Sakura seeing while stuck in her genjutsu coma? Very little that she wants to, but perhaps everything that she needs to.

* * *

Endnotes:

I have recently realized something. No story I set anywhere near, or after the manga's end, is going to be a crowd pleaser. And that is largely because I myself am not pleased with certain parts of the manga's end. As you may have guessed, mostly the Sasuke bits.

Anyway, to clear up any misconceptions: I don't hate Sakura. I hate that she can't let go of Sasuke, but I don't hate her. In fact, when she's not crushing on Sasuke or treating Naruto unfairly, I quite like her. Which is why I've devoted an entire chapter to her, and what she may or may not be experiencing under Sasuke's genjutsu. Although I can certainly understand where you might get the impression that I'm not a Sakura fan, considering most of them feature Sasuke, and all that goes along with him. But I don't consider it my fault that anything happy featuring Sasuke either tends to be wildly out of character, or suspect. I mean, every major Uchiha has had an abrupt personality shift for whatever reason. And none of those shifts resulted in them becoming better people. So if you tell me that Sasuke can settle down with a woman and have a kid, I either assume it's all an illusion, or a long-term plan which is going to result in somebody having a very bad day. And Sasuke is never going to accept that Naruto is stronger than him, and Naruto is going to foolishly keep accepting Sasuke's challenges and not killing him. So, inevitably, Sasuke is going to kill Naruto.

Sasuke was kind enough to confirm a theory of mine, too: that he's prepared to stab Naruto in the back at any point in the future (the betrayal schedule is never wrong). Which essentially means that both are far too blockheaded to change, no matter how much harm it causes them and those around them. I'm willing to go as far as saying that Naruto SHOULD NOT be Hokage for this very same reason. Either Sasuke would assassinate Naruto, or Sasuke would just keep ruining things and Naruto wouldn't allow anyone to kill him, despite it being the best solution. Which would force Konoha to either go behind Naruto's back, or kill him. And it is indeed time for the series to end when the people that need Naruto dead are the good guys.


	2. Sidestory: Dreaming

Notes: This is something of a sidestory. But I decided to include it here. Basically, it's several nightmares featuring Sasuke strung together, but some aren't that bad. Others... well.

Warning: What follows is what I think Sakura should have seen while under Sasuke's genjutsu. Mind you, this assumes that his purposes were general torture, a heartfelt desire to ensure that Sakura never came anywhere near him again, or, failing that, simply that she knew what being with him could ultimately mean. Which could be mistaken for Sakura-bashing at first glance, though you'll notice the worst things generally happen to people _around_ her, and not her directly. Unless you consider living through these things the worst fate.

* * *

**Project U: Dreaming**

* * *

"No change," Tsunade said as soon as Naruto walked into the hospital room.

Naruto frowned at her. "I didn't even-"

"You were going to ask, we both know it. No change."

He sighed. "Fine." Naruto walked over to the bed, hesitated, and glanced at Tsunade.

She smirked. "If you want to be mushy in private, too damn bad. I'm not leaving her side until I'm certain there's no chance I'll miss anything. So talk already."

Shaking his head, Naruto reached down and gently took the patient's hand. "Hey, Sakura-chan," he said softly. "I, uh, I'm back. I would have brought you lunch, but, you know. Genjutsu coma and all."

Tsunade coughed loudly.

Naruto shot her a glare. "Anyway, baa-chan's still here, making sure nothing bad happens to you. Well, nothing else bad, I mean." He paused, bit his lip, and squeezed her hand. "I know you still love him, but I'll make him regret doing this to you. You're such a good person, and you don't deserve this. I'll always be here for you, I promise. When you wake up, the first thing I'm gonna do is bring you some ramen."

"She's going to need healthy food to properly recover, not ramen," Tsunade snapped.

"I'm trying to give her something to look forward to!" Naruto protested.

"Then offer to bring her anything BUT ramen, baka! She only ever ate it because of you!"

Naruto leaned down to whisper in Sakura's ear. "Don't worry. I'll get you all the ramen you can eat, no matter what she says."

Tsunade groaned. "You're making me regret the idea that people in comas can still hear us."

"You think she can, right?" Naruto asked.

"There has been considerable research that coma victims respond to outside stimuli. Usually, it comes down to what you're personally willing to believe. And given a choice, I prefer to think she can hear us, to an extent."

"What's that mean?"

"It means she's under a powerful genjutsu, applied by the remnants of a clan known primarily for the most devastating genjutsu in existence. So I imagine the majority of her mind is always under the sway of the genjutsu, with a few moments of peace here and there when she manages to emerge from it, even a little. At least I hope they're peaceful. But being trapped in your own body never feels good, Naruto. To make things worse, we have no idea what it is that she's experiencing right now. Or even if she wants to escape it at all."

* * *

He had screamed her name the entire time.

Through it all, Sakura told herself that this was part of the mission, that she couldn't break her cover, that she would find a way to save him, somehow.

But when Naruto's body fell to the ground, sapped of all life and chakra, his eyes sunken in and empty, she knew things would never be the same again.

The plan, while full of risk, had been perfect.

Sasuke had defected from Konoha, just as Tsunade had suspected he would... and Sakura had gone with him. Even now, she had no idea how she'd convinced him, what had changed in him that suddenly made her presence welcome instead of just tolerable. No, that was wrong. The only thing that had changed in Sasuke was the accursed seal on his shoulder. Perhaps the worst part was that it had transformed Sasuke into a being of base desires and impulses... which made him far easier for Sakura to understand, and manipulate. He was interested in sex now, for example. Not often, and he would never care about his partner's own pleasure, but it could be used to control him, temporarily.

Orochimaru, never one to waste a resource, put Sakura to work learning medical ninjutsu from Kabuto. She was sure that he taught her only half of what he knew, and even that put her far ahead of most medic-nin in Konoha. For three years, Sakura had learned, and killed, and plotted, and prayed.

Three years without them, without her, was all Naruto could take. No one knew how he'd gotten away from Jiraiya, but he had, and waged a one-man war on Orochimaru's entire operation. Labs were destroyed, every wave of Sound-nin cannon fodder sent at him reduced to dust... every team of Leaf-nin sent to bring Naruto home beaten thoroughly, but left in just good enough health to drag themselves home.

Orochimaru was actually on the defensive, fleeing from Naruto's trail of destruction, when Akatsuki finally stepped in. Chiyo offered them a choice: join or die. Then she took Orochimaru apart like he was a genin fresh out of the academy, and made him into a human puppet right in front of them. Kabuto, Sasuke, and Sakura were the only ones smart enough to join. Everyone else was dead in ten minutes.

After serving Orochimaru, Akatsuki was strangely easier. Chiyo was an excellent teacher, and Sakura was eager to learn from her. Chiyo was what Tsunade could have been, had she not allowed her skill to deteriorate from years of gambling and drinking. She had used the horrors of her past as fuel to become stronger, and simply never stopped. Other than the leader, she was the only member everyone else feared.

The plan was to help Itachi take them down from the inside. Sasuke and Naruto ruined it. Sasuke couldn't let go of his vendetta, even after Sakura told him the truth of the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto couldn't shake the idea that he needed to save them, couldn't sit back and do nothing while they were in constant danger.

Now Sasuke was dead, his eyes in Itachi's head and his heart in Kakuzu's back. And now, Naruto was dead, too.

Sakura had hoped, briefly, that she would be allowed to take the body. But Akatsuki didn't do things that way, and there were only two possible fates for a corpse: digested in Zetsu's belly, or added to Chiyo's collection.

It hurt, each time she looked at him, and felt like the worst sort of blasphemy to see the familiar techniques performed without his signature flare, but it was far better than the alternative.

* * *

The entire classroom of chattering children fell silent as Sakura pulled open the door. Smirking confidently, she walked in, shut the door behind her, and approached the front of the classroom. "Good morning, class," she greeted, allowing just enough Inner Sakura to slip into the tone that perhaps one or two kids in the front row clearly wet their pants.

"Good morning, Sakura-sensei!" the entire class immediately answered.

Sakura grinned, inhaling the addictive scent in the air.

Pure fear.

"Today, we will-" she began as she turned to the blackboard, only to find that someone had printed, in huge, bold letters, "SPINSTER-SENSEI!" A crudely-drawn doodle had been added in pink chalk, so that there could be no doubt who the message was intended for. Although what stung the most was that the culprit had pretty much nailed Inner Sakura's usual expression: a fearsome scowl.

There was only one child who could possibly have been responsible.

"U-zu-ma-ki BOLT!" Sakura screeched, snatching up a piece of chalk and throwing it with all of her considerable strength.

Bolt executed a spectacular dive, which meant that the projectile missed him entirely, but nearly obliterated the Inuzuka puppy that had been behind him. The unfortunate creature howled and ran from the room, its equally unfortunate owner chasing after it. All eyes were trained on the small crater where the chalk had been embedded.

Sakura pointed sternly at Bolt. "During lunch, you will stay here and write one thousand times, 'Baka blonds should not reproduce and have little baka blonds.' Without Shadow Clones."

Bolt opened his mouth to protest, but caught the homicidal twitch in Sakura's eyes and thought better of it.

But lunch turned out to be more of punishment for Sakura than Bolt. She had to sit there with him, and make sure he actually did the lines. Worse than that, Ino's twins, Inoichi and Inoni, insisted on sharing their lunch with her. They were sweet boys, but Sakura could never decide if they were nice to her because they genuinely liked her, or because Ino had told them to be. Because of course, Ino wasn't a sore winner. She made every attempt to keep Sakura firmly in her social circle. But Ino was the lucky ex-friend who had married Sasuke and popped out three kids like it was nothing. And the pig was pregnant again, possibly with triplets this time, from the size of her.

Sakura, on the other hand, went home to a lonely apartment, and shared her meals with Tora the cat, who kept turning up at her front door despite being old, fat, and half-blind. She was about two more meals from buying a rubber mouse and allowing the cat to sleep in her bed, honestly. They could both use the company, she figured.

* * *

Ino knew. Sakura was certain of that.

Sasuke was not subtle, of course. He was direct in all aspects of the affair, too sure that Ino would never dare to confront or leave him. He was equally sure that Sakura would never get him out of her system.

The pregnancies, legitimate and otherwise, were a matter of public record. Any child that obtained a Sharingan was immediately given the Uchiha name. It was virtually an unwritten law in Konoha. It had to be, as Sasuke made no attempt to stay faithful to his wife. But the clan was growing, and that was all that mattered. Though with Sasuke as their shining example, it was no wonder the Uchiha still knew nothing of loyalty.

Sakura wondered at his appeal, frankly. He was totally inconsiderate as a lover, made no promises, and left as abruptly as he arrived. The few times they had been together, Sakura had tried desperately to think of Gaara, as he had been when she first saw him. But then, that Gaara would have at least killed her afterward, or possibly during. Not out of kindness, though Sakura might still have considered it one. Sasuke was either content to let her continue suffering, or cared so little that her feelings didn't matter to him at all.

* * *

Hinata knew. Though it was more accurate to say that her entire family knew.

They were careful, but in a village crawling with Byakugan users, sectioning off any area that rendered their doujutsu useless was just as good as wearing a sign that said, "Look here!" And the only other option was to do it in plain sight of any activated Byakugan. Or not to do it at all, which had never been considered.

If Sakura was honest with herself, she wanted Naruto only because Hinata got him first. Naruto was passionate, tender, and above all, still completely obvious in how he felt, about both Sakura and Hinata. Being with Hinata was all about honor, tradition, and a promise he had made to Neji. Being with Sakura was a lifelong dream, and fun. He was never going to leave Hinata for her, and Sakura didn't want him to. She wanted him because he belonged to someone else. Without that, there was no point.

* * *

Tenten knew. Lee made love the same way he did everything else: loudly and with extreme enthusiasm. Tenten knew even before they had finished the first time... and so did half of the village. Instead of being angry, Tenten sent Sakura a gift basket filled with ointments, bath salts, and massage oils. Included was the following note: "I'd kill you, but I suspect we're both currently too sore to move, and odds are good that Lee's stamina will kill us both first, anyhow. See you in hell."

* * *

On her first day in the third year of academy, a teacher threw a book at her forehead. Several kids openly avoided her, while others teased her mercilessly. The insulters all zeroed in on the size of her forehead.

Sakura tried to rely on her meditation exercises, but they did no good. By lunchtime, she had to stay in the bathroom ten extra minutes, just to make sure that her eyes were back to green, instead of blood red.

She was cornered in the schoolyard, where a crowd of kids decided to pick on her. Ino was at the head, telling anyone who would listen how massive Sakura's forehead was.

"You're right," Sakura whispered, startling Ino into silence. "My forehead is big. Want to know why?"

"B-Because you were born a freak!" Ino stammered weakly.

Sakura grinned evilly. "No. It's where I store all of my hatred, and that makes it easier to do this." With that, she lowered her head, screamed at the top of her lungs, and charged like a rampaging bull.

Ino shrieked and ran for her life. The other kids scattered in all directions.

Sakura slowed to a stop only when she was sure they weren't going to double back. Then she retreated to the lonely swing underneath a tree, and sat down to wait.

Of course, some of her tormenters squealed to their parents. None of the adults dared to get anywhere near Sakura, but she could hear them muttering angrily all the same. Sakura closed her eyes and tried to reflect on the day's lessons.

Iruka was the only trustworthy teacher.

She would pack extra cinnamon rolls for Shino and Hinata tomorrow. They were weird enough that no one else went near them, but quiet enough not to annoy Sakura. And whatever they thought of her, they kept it to themselves and didn't mind her eating near them.

Ino was extremely afraid of bugs, or at least Shino's. Possibly because she knew they were far more dangerous than everyday bugs, but probably just because they were bugs and there were so many of them all at once.

She needed to avoid Sasuke at all costs. She wasn't going to trust any Uchiha that hadn't been declared sane by the Hokage. And to make matters worse, Sasuke actually had been tested. Apparently there was a state between "completely nuts" (but still very close to it) and "sane enough" where a person could be slightly twitchy but still aware enough to only attack enemies. Sasuke called that state home, although judging by the fact that he had no friends and tended to glare at anyone regardless, he was getting closer to insane by the minute.

It was twenty more minutes before Sakura sensed the chakra beacon, so very like her own, swiftly approaching. Naruto emerged from the academy with a wide grin, a gently-used textbook tucked under his arm. Iruka was just behind him, trying not to look too obvious about being Naruto's bodyguard, in case someone decided the boy had no business reading.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto sang out happily as he ran up to her. "Sorry to make you wait!"

She smiled faintly. "I don't mind, Naruto-kun. I'd rather walk home together, anyway."

He frowned. "Ah, we can't, though. Kaa-chan made me promise to wait for her. She says it's not safe by ourselves."

This, Sakura could believe. A man on the street had spat on her that same morning. So she had spat on his shoes. Though instead of saliva, she'd used a fire jutsu and a bit too much chakra. After which point he'd been begging for anyone to spit on him. And Sakura hadn't, because spitting on people was incredibly rude.

Sakura didn't want to wait, but knew it was a good idea. And in any case, she could already feel the similar but somehow different beacon that was Kushina's chakra moving closer to them. She assumed it was a little-known trait that some Uzumaki carried, as she had reportedly recognized friendly chakra sources even before she knew what chakra was. Sakura had always assumed that Kushina had adopted her because of all the evidence that conveniently suggested that they were related. People with both red hair and larger than normal chakra capacity simply didn't occur outside of the Uzumaki clan, as a rule.

Kushina arrived a few minutes later, greeting both children with a warm hug and a peck on the forehead. "So, how was your first day this time?" she asked.

"I learned a lot," Sakura replied at once, which was true. She had learned which people were going to give her trouble, which was far more relevant than some lecture on a war that had happened long before she was born, in her opinion.

Naruto babbled on for several minutes about Iruka-sensei, and Kushina either listened attentively or made it look like she was. Sakura could never be sure, but even she zoned out pretty regularly when Naruto got excited about something that she couldn't.

Suddenly, Kushina's hand landed gently on Sakura's head. "You're quiet today, Sakura-chan. Anything wrong?"

"No, Kushina nee-chan," Sakura replied. Although Kushina was easily old enough to be Sakura's mother, there had been a rather long discussion about how Kushina had only given birth to one child, and was in no hurry to have another. Sakura got the message that Kushina was sensitive about her age, and acted accordingly. Just because they were somewhat related, it didn't mean Kushina wouldn't beat her like a drum if she misbehaved. Also, the people that Kushina chose to beat usually required extended hospital stays once she was done with them.

"Well, okay. But you can always talk to me if you have a problem." Kushina noticed a nearby man shooting them a dirty look, and gave him a hefty dose of killing intent, enough to make him run in fear. "We Uzumaki have to stick together. There aren't many of us left, you know."

* * *

"There actually is one thing you could for me, Sakura," Sasuke murmured, his back to her.

Sakura's heart soared. Sasuke had been only moments from leaving Konoha, but her offer to do anything for him had stopped him. At last, there was something she could do that would-

"Just stand right there. I want to make sure that I've got this jutsu perfected," Sasuke said as he turned around, the chirping of Chidori in his hand nearly drowning out his voice. "I've got a feeling that if I don't get it just right, the dobe might actually live when I use it on him."

Sakura wanted there to be madness in his eyes, but she could see none. That, perhaps, was the scariest part. Sasuke knew exactly what he was doing. He always did, and always would.

* * *

"It's a girl," Tsunade said, smiling as she felt the light flutter of the baby kicking.

Sakura smiled and closed her eyes. "I've already got a name picked out: Sarada."

* * *

"They're _both_ girls," Tsunade spat, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice.

Sakura and Karin glared fiercely at each other from opposite corners of the room, resembling sumo wrestlers about to charge more than expecting mothers. And really, Sakura had not completely ruled out attacking. Upon learning that her baby would have a half-sibling, she was ashamed to admit that giving Karin a swift punch in the belly had been among her first thoughts. Perhaps the only reason she hadn't was that Naruto had volunteered to let Karin stay at his house, so at least Sakura didn't have to see her often, and was never alone with her.

That might have been too tempting to resist.

But at least Sasuke had not chosen Karin over her. There had been no sign of him for months. Sakura imagined he was impregnating every other woman he came across. She couldn't decide if that made her angry, or relieved that she would not be the only one suffering from the same situation. Well, that was wrong. Karin was the only one who would understand. She had loved Sasuke, too. But if Sakura was going to hate her for that, she would have to do the same for herself. And she didn't like the idea of being any more alone than Sasuke had already made her feel.

* * *

"I still say this is totally gross," Naruto complained. "Your clan is really messed up, teme."

Sasuke ignored him, too focused on his work.

Sakura felt vaguely sick, though not for the expected reasons.

The battle had been brutal. She had never seen so many of Naruto's clones killed so quickly and effortlessly before. And Sasuke, for all the power he had gained while he was away from the village, had been pushed to his limits. If not for them, he would surely be dead. Their opponent had clearly not held back at all.

But Itachi was dead now, and Sasuke was intent on taking his eyes.

Naruto did not understand, could not understand. But Sakura, in her endless quest to bring Sasuke home, had gone to considerable lengths to learn everything she could about the Uchiha. And if Tsunade ever found out that Sakura had been the one to resurrect the Nidaime Hokage, she would be dismissed from Konoha's forces at the very least. But it had been worth it. No Hokage had understood the darkness of the clan better, and he had been all too willing to educate her, if it meant stopping Sasuke from becoming the next Madara.

So Sakura had come on this mission fully prepared to transplant Itachi's eyes into Sasuke. It stung, to know that Sasuke had gained the Mangekyo Sharingan during his time away, which meant that he'd gotten close to and lost someone precious outside of Team 7. But with Itachi's eyes, he would no longer have to fear eventual blindness, his revenge would be complete, and he could finally come home.

"It's done," Sasuke said, rising and turning away from the corpse. "Sakura."

She nodded and stepped closer, taking the small jar from his bloodstained fingers. The eyes were intact, of course, and had been removed with medical precision. Clearly, something else Sasuke had learned in his time away from them. Why was it that everything he seemed to need came from outside of Konoha?

"It shouldn't take long," Sakura said. "Research suggests that Uchiha eyes tend to reconnect the necessary-"

"Don't," Sasuke interrupted harshly, "talk to me about my clan. Just put the eyes in."

Naruto looked as if he wanted to shout something, but Sakura caught his eye and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. We'll get started right now."

It took just under thirty minutes, and the moment it was done, Sakura understood that she had made a huge mistake. Perhaps it had been that last touch, when something like an electric charge had passed from the eyes to her finger. Could it have actually been a final warning from Itachi? She had seen a vision of Sasuke, laughing madly and walking towards his new future, as behind him, Konoha was consumed by black flames. Now, she understood: there was nothing in the village for Sasuke now, nothing except his revenge. Nothing else in Konoha mattered to him.

Certainly not she and Naruto, now that they had served their purpose.

Sakura didn't want to believe it, but she had to be sure.

"Things will be better now, Sasuke-kun. The Hokage will pardon you, and then-"

"I don't need a pardon," Sasuke interrupted. "I'm not going back there, yet. There's something I have to do first. I'm going to restore my clan. Then, we'll return to Konoha, and burn it to the ground."

Sakura knew then that the vision had been real, that Itachi really had tried to warn her, with a warning embedded in his eye. Unfortunately, from the sound of it, he had also embedded a message for Sasuke as well.

"You know? About Itachi?" Sakura whispered.

Sasuke turned his bandaged head in her direction. "I'm more surprised that you know, Sakura. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I couldn't. Not unless he did first, and he didn't. I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun, but-"

"I don't need your apologies. I don't need anything from you, anymore. Because you helped me, I'll spare you this time. But if you get in my way again, I'll kill both of you."

* * *

"Why did you choose me?" Naruto murmured in her ear.

Sakura sighed. "Because you the were the smart choice."

"You mean the least painful one."

"That, too. And, I couldn't get rid of you no matter what I did."

"Uzumaki don't give up, Sakura-chan. You know that."

"Then you'd better learn, because I'll cripple you before I let you put another baby in me, Naruto."

He laughed softly. "You said that two babies ago, you know."

"I mean it this time. Back off."

"Okay, okay. Can I at least get a kiss? I have to take Hinata to Ino again."

"Oh." Sakura turned her head and pressed her lips firmly to his. "I can-"

"No." Naruto closed his eyes, savoring the taste of her lips. "It's worse when other people are there. Kiss the brats for me?"

"Sure." Sakura watched him get out of bed with concern. His back was practically one big knot of tension. "Naruto, why does she-?"

"I've tried asking her that, before and after Ino's sessions. She always says the same thing: duty to the village. I thought I knew what that meant, when Kakashi-sensei gave me the hat. But I look at Hinata, and I wonder if I really know anything about sacrifice."

Sakura wanted to say that Hinata had chosen her fate, but that wasn't true. The only thing Hinata had chosen was to give her life to and for her clan. Perhaps she had expected them to ask her to lead, or die. That would have been infinitely simpler than attempting to breed with Sasuke. For whatever reason, Hinata's body rejected Sasuke on every level, and when she did get pregnant, it never lasted long enough. Hinata could do a lot of things for the village, but burying more than one baby had broken her more completely than anything else. Nearly everyone who knew the sad story believed that Naruto had ordered that Hinata's memories be edited after each miscarriage.

That was half-true: Hinata's memories were edited after each miscarriage, and after each confirmed pregnancy, at her own request. She didn't want to remember sleeping with Sasuke, and she certainly didn't trust herself to carry a child that she knew was his. By now, precious little remained of the Hinata that Sakura had once known. Ino had overwritten her almost entirely: it was simpler, and more humane than risking Hinata remembering anything too emotionally damaging.

Naruto and the village were the only things that Hinata cared about. And even there, since Naruto was Hokage, it was more accurate to say that she only cared for Naruto. Naruto could offer no reward, except to stand at her side each time another piece of her faded away. Ino had briefly considered convincing Hinata that the babies were Naruto's, but Naruto knew that would only make the losses more devastating for Hinata.

"You're sure I can't go with you?" Sakura asked again.

"It's enough that you offered at all, Sakura-chan."

"How long are you going to let her do this to herself?"

"You don't get it. There's nothing else. She can't go back to her clan, and if she's not doing this, Sasuke won't keep her. No one is going to take her in after what she's been through."

"We could-"

"I would, if I could. But it's not safe, for us or the kids. Hinata is... not the same anymore."

"So what happens if Sasuke does abandon her?"

"I doubt he will. No one else in her clan will go near him, and he's pretty obsessed with creating a super doujutsu."

"But if he does?" Sakura pressed.

"If you love me, don't make me answer that."

* * *

They met on Team 7's bridge, as they had so many times before.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, glaring at him.

"Hokage-sama," Sasuke replied, smirking at her.

"They told me that you killed Naruto."

"They didn't lie. I thought about bringing you his head, but I'm told that would have been in poor taste."

"Before I kill you," Sakura said slowly, "I need to know something. Was any of it worth it?"

"If it wasn't, do you think I'd admit it to you? And what makes you think you can kill me, Sakura? You're not even the first Hokage I've killed."

"But Naruto was your last." Sakura cracked her knuckles loudly. "I sentence you to death."

Sasuke laughed. "You should know, I never get tired of killing the people who say that to me."

* * *

When Sakura went to bed that evening, everything was fine.

When she woke up, everything had gone to hell.

Naruto was dead, his body full of holes from multiple Chidori stabs. There were only two people in the village who could use the jutsu, and Kakashi's whereabouts at the time of the murder had already been confirmed.

Sasuke was missing. At the very least, he was no longer in the village.

Sakura went into labor minutes after she heard the news, and almost twenty grueling hours later, she had a son. And though she knew it was the worst possible time, she had made a promise to Sasuke. So, after Sakura, the first person to hold little Itachi was his big sister Sarada. There seemed to be an instant bond between them. As a rule, Sarada generally avoided people outside of her family. And if things went like Sakura expected, Sarada would be Itachi's only friend for quite some time.

In an unprecedented move, the council had temporarily granted the powers of Hokage to Hinata, by unanimous vote. They insisted this was only until a new candidate could be found, as there had been no successor in place, although Konohamaru was rumored to be a popular choice. Also, Hinata clearly had no interest in the office, at least beyond avenging her late husband.

As a matter, Sakura was questioned. She told the truth: she had no knowledge of Sasuke's activities after she went to bed (especially not while pregnant and sleeping at odd hours), and had seen no indication of his intent to kill Naruto. Beyond the usual disgust that passed for friendship with them, anyway. Hinata halted the interrogation after an hour. Itachi apparently sensed the tension in the air, and could not be pacified by anyone but Sakura. And it had given Sakura quite a chill, to learn that Itachi and Sarada had been in Hinata's care the whole time. Not that she was surprised, though. Had she been in Hinata's place, she would have done the same.

Hinata gave them a chance to leave. Unofficially, of course. With the understanding that if they were ever seen anywhere near Sasuke, they would all die.

Sakura looked at her two innocent children, and decided to stay. It would be hard, she knew. The whole village would hate them for the rest of their lives. Including the next Hokage, most likely. They would suffer greatly, for something that had been beyond their control.

Naruto had survived it. They could do no less.

That night, Sarada didn't want to sleep alone. This worked out great, as Sakura didn't want either of her children out of arm's reach for the time being. So they all climbed into the bed Sakura had once shared with Sasuke, and tried to pretend that they weren't terrified of what awaited them.

Sakura had nearly fallen asleep when a hand grabbed her shoulder and shook her roughly. "I don't know about you, but I'm sick of all this crap," said a familiar voice.

* * *

When Sakura slowly cracked open one eye, the first thing she saw was a blond blur. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed it.

Naruto came awake with a shout at the violent tug on his hair, but quieted down as soon as he saw her. "Sakura-chan?" he breathed.

"Not dead?" Sakura murmured.

Naruto stared at her, unsure if she meant herself, or him. "No, not dead."

"Good." Sakura yawned, then started to fall back to sleep. Then she remembered where that had gotten her the last time, instantly woke up, and stayed that way for the next seventy-two hours. And then some.

* * *

A week later, by which point Sakura's diet consisted almost entirely of caffeine drinks, she got a package from Suna. Gaara had sent her several books, all of which contained extremely detailed horror stories, with more than a few graphic illustrations. He felt sure they would keep her awake, as they had always worked for him. Sakura made a mental note to kiss Gaara the next time he was in the village. And possibly Temari, for giving Gaara a reason to visit so often.

When she wasn't doing her best to avoid sleeping, Sakura was learning everything she could about protecting herself from genjutsu. The answer occurred to her quite by accident, when Sai asked her opinion of a wedding present for Naruto and Hinata. It was an oil painting of the happy couple on their wedding day. Naruto was grinning like an idiot, Hinata was heavily pregnant, and had twin smiley faces drawn on her belly. Sakura was actually offended, until Sai explained that he'd been talked out of labeling them Thing 1 and Thing 2 by Ino.

That was the answer, of course. Sakura needed a dependable partner who could free her from genjutsu. And she had one. Inner Sakura had indeed rescued her, eventually. But Sakura never wanted it to take that long again.

* * *

Ino stared at her best friend for a long moment. "No. Not until you tell me why. Something tells me you're way too sleep-deprived to be thinking clearly."

Sakura frowned at her. "Why would I be sleep-deprived? I've been in a genjutsu coma for years."

"And if my hunch is right, you haven't been to sleep since you woke up. Now you come in here and tell me you want me to create additional personalities to go with the scary second one that's already locked in your head. Not only is that dangerous, it's pretty much guaranteed to make you crazy, assuming you aren't already. Which I'm not, by the way."

"Do you know that Naruto is just as susceptible to genjutsu as I am?"

"What does that have to do with-"

"That means even having _the_ demon sealed in you can't protect you from genjutsu. And especially not from Uchiha genjutsu."

Ino's eyes widened in realization. "Sakura, you aren't think-"

"I refuse to be a victim again, Ino. You don't know what I saw in there, and I pray you never do. But if you don't help me with this, I'll just find another Yamanaka who will. I already have Tsunade's blessing to pursue this, with or without you. I just thought I'd give you the courtesy of being the first one I approached."

"You're only doing this to protect yourself?" Ino asked slowly. "You aren't doing this so you can kill him?"

"I'm doing this so he can't torture me again. Not in the same way, at least. If you love him more than you want me to be safe, that's your business, and I'm in no position to blame you for it."

Ino stared at Sakura, searching for any sign of deception. She found nothing but determination. "How many personalities were you thinking of adding?"

"Seven, to start with. If I can handle those, I'll add more. I figure the more personalities I have, the more resistant I am to genjutsu."

"What if it's the other way around?"

Sakura gave her a sad smile. "I'd rather die than live through even one of those nightmares a second time. I'd probably kill myself if I saw Sasuke anywhere near me, if things stay the way there are. I'm that terrified that he might do it again."

Ino bit her lip. "Sakura, how sure are you that everything you saw was because of something Sasuke did to you?"

Sakura blinked. "Tsunade asked me the same thing. She said it was unlikely, yet possible that my mind could have been responsible for everything that I saw in the coma. And you know what that tells me, Ino? That my mind did everything in its power to tell me to stay away from Sasuke. And guess what? I decided to listen."

* * *

In the end, Ino only created one additional personality for Sakura.

Yet the next time she accessed Sakura's mind, there were no less than ten separate personalities. Apparently, Sakura's mind had only needed to know it was possible, before deciding to pick up the ball and run with it.

After that, no one could accurately say how many personalities Sakura had. The popular theory was that she had as many as Tenten had hidden weapons stashed on her at any one time, a truly horrifying thought. But, Sakura had supposedly reached her goal: no genjutsu seemed to work on her for more than a handful of seconds, if that long. Of course, the only way to be sure was for someone to use a Sharingan on her, but one personality tended to throw kunai at anything that even remotely resembled a Sharingan with a level of accuracy that even impressed Tenten, and was eventually named for her.

Perhaps what was most curious about the personalities was that they all seemed to agree on certain things. All were very fond of Naruto and Kushina, and far more friendly toward Hinata than Sakura had ever been. Sasuke, of course, was a sore topic for all of them. Yet Sakura had trouble shaking the dream of having two kids: first a girl, then a boy. There did not seem to be much chance of realizing that dream, however. Sakura truly was too much woman for seemingly any man. Or perhaps just too many women at once for any one man.

End of Sidestory.

* * *

No current plans for another chapter. Although I still plan to eventually spin out an explanation for how/why Anko plumped up. If I can flesh it out into a whole chapter.

* * *

Endnotes/Rant:

(Normally, I would warn you to skip this if you love Sasuke. On the other hand, if you do love Sasuke, that's even more reason for you to read what follows. I just may save you from stabbity crackling death.)

The theory behind this chapter is that if enough bad things happen to Sakura because of Sasuke, or perhaps if she sees enough of her possible futures ruined because of Sasuke, that she will decide to stay away from him on her own. Because clearly no one else can convince her.

Some of you may wonder why I'm so against Sasuke and Sakura as a couple. I actually do have reasons.

1) Nearly all of the fangirl crushes on Sasuke were based on a version of him that didn't actually exist. Mainly, one that welcomed their attention and would return their feelings. Sasuke himself confirmed that could never happen: all he cared about was revenge, and restoring his clan, which he would only do with someone who could give him a strong child. Already, that narrows the field to fairly successful kunoichi, which admittedly includes Sakura. But Sakura's own crush was clearly influenced by that fateful encounter with a henged Naruto, and yet not at all by the following encounter with the real Sasuke. Which leads me to conclude that Sakura is willing to firmly ignore anything bad Sasuke does to her or others, while desperately latching onto anything good he does. Already, that's delusional behavior and not at all healthy. Because it means a simple apology can balance out attempted murder.

2) Sasuke tried to kill Sakura. And Naruto. And Karin. Why are the other two important? Because they're all people that thought themselves close to Sasuke. And Sasuke rewarded their devotion with fatal wounds. Did he apologize? Yes, sort of. Did they forgive him? Obviously. But especially in Karin's case, that is simply insane. If you're going to be in any relationship with a person who excels at genjutsu, and has tried to kill you at least once, you need to be regularly checked for genjutsu and insanity. And ninja don't seem to have a cancel jutsu for the latter, which just figures. Of lesser importance is that that Naruto was important to Sakura as a friend, so Sasuke didn't care about Sakura, or her precious people, or future Sakura substitutes like Karin.

3) I'm sure there are many people that Sasuke wronged, and didn't apologize to (as if that would _work_ on anyone else). Some of them might decide to take that out on his family. Karui doesn't seem like she still wants revenge. But she is rather quick to anger, and has beaten Naruto bloody for a crime he wasn't directly responsible for. So I'm sure killing Sasuke's family would make plenty of sense to someone with that mindset. Not saying she would do it, only that I'd understand if she did.

4) Odd as it may sound, Sasuke is not a family man. Avenging a family man, sure. Raising a family man, no. If you need proof, there's the whole stabbing women who love him thing. Also men who love him, if that was your next suggestion. Not really someone you want around kids, raising kids, and certainly not having kids of their own. And if they do, those kids also need to be checked for abnormal behavior. Not just because of their father's love of stabbing things, but also for their mother's acceptance of being stabbed (and/or bitten). Wife beating would actually be a step down from Sasuke's general treatment of women close to him, and if that sounds as bad as I hope it does, good. That is the point I'm making.

I'm sure some of you will say that Sasuke changed. I would argue that very few characters did. Some became more mature by the end, but they're essentially the same people. Especially the more stubborn ones, which includes all of Team 7. Which makes me weep for the next generation, because I hate to think of what awaits Sarada, if she ever encounters someone outside (or in) Konoha who had their life ruined by Sasuke. If Naruto has reinforced any idea for me, it's that people don't magically get over things just because their leaders say they should. If that was true, there would only have been a single Gundam series, and it wouldn't have been that successful.


End file.
